Title: Self-Determination Theory as an explanation for the evolution of enterprises

Authors: Glenn E. Maples, Zhiwei Zhu, Ronald B. Heady, Anne Keaty

Addresses: Business Systems, Analysis and Technology Department, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70504, USA. ' Business Systems, Analysis and Technology Department, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70504, USA. ' Business Systems, Analysis and Technology Department, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70504, USA. ' Marketing and Hospitality Department, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70504, USA

Abstract: An extensive literature analyses work organisations from an evolutionary perspective. However, it is limited in addressing issues of causality, i.e. why should an organisational change occur and what is the mechanism of the change? These questions of causality are distinct from those like what enterprise forms exist, what the organisation|s precursors were and what facilitating/enabling factors were present during an organisation|s change. The current research suggests a more fully developed set of answers to the questions of causality using the well developed psychological |self-determination theory| to connect the goal-related behaviour of individuals to enterprise growth and decline.

Keywords: enterprises; enterprise development; organisational evolution; SDT; self-determination theory; goal-related behaviour; individual behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMED.2009.021733

International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, 2009 Vol.6 No.1, pp.1 - 17

Published online: 01 Dec 2008 *

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